I have included Team Cardinal as supporting players before in stories about Beacon, but this will almost exclusively be written from their point of view. I also hope that I am now a better writer.

In my version of the RWBYverse, students are admitted at age 18 and are also allowed to drink. There is a college bar with a karaoke machine. Jaune has not forged his transcripts but has a different reason for feeling insecure.

I do have an OC team, but one reason for this is to give the main characters different people to bounce off without taking the main cast too out of character.

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Cardin was having his last meal at home before enrolling at Beacon. The cook had done her best to provide the perfect brunch, and the whole family was there: Pater, Mama, Fifi, his sister, who was 17, and his 12-year-old brother, Redyard.

He had been head boy at Pharos last year. He scowled slightly. The last term had not entirely gone according to plan, mainly due to people who thought that they had been trying to help him or that they knew what he wanted them to do. He would have been Victor Ludorum by himself if they hadn't interfered.

Anyway, Beacon would be a whole new experience. There would be almost no one there who wasn't good enough to deserve the opportunity. It wouldn't be like Pharos, where about 30% of the students had been a waste of space and resources.

He had had a marvellous summer holiday and had been able to forget the frustrations of the last term and a half at Pharos. His Great Aunt Dahlia had funded a round Remnant trip, including training at the best hunter gyms in Mistral and Atlas and a safari in the Vacuoan desert with local guides who'd given him tips on dealing with desert Grimm.

He had enjoyed it but was glad to be back in Vale. It was his home kingdom, after all. He'd also needed to sort out with Dove how they could ensure they were on the same team. They had been best mates since prep school, and their fathers were still each other's best friends.

It had been good having three months apart, though. He had to tell Dove towards the end of their last term of Pharos that he wasn't helping Cardin by threatening anyone who didn't agree that Cardin was the best fighter at Pharos. Dove had not taken it well.

It had been for his own good. Dove should have learnt from how Cardin's cousin Lydia had reacted to him getting in her face in their third year that it was a bad idea. Motivating Henry Boxer and June Benjamin as well had been just stupid. His cousin had been delighted to train those two how to kick Dove's ass and to give Cardin a good fight. Actually, Lydia had been a little bit too competitive for his tastes.

The time away actually meant that Cardin could see this as a good thing. Last year, the fact that three of his fellow students battled him with a view to winning, despite the fact that he was known to be the best in Pharos, had made him a better fighter.

Although she was still the Vytal Festival favourite for next year, the fact that everyone, except Arslan Altan, who went into a fight with Pyrrha Nikos in the Mistral Regionals, expected to lose meant she had not needed to improve in three years. Well, Arslan probably expected to lose, but at least she gave it a go as opposed to just defending to delay the inevitable. He'd been in Mistral for the quarterfinals to finals of the Mistral Regionals, and Pyrrha's fights before the final with Arslan had been embarrassingly one-sided.

He was looking forward to fighting Yang Xiao-Long without feeling threatened by her. She was the only real star from Signal arriving this year, and everyone assured him she was both talented and a party girl. If she were in charge of a team, she wouldn't be bothered to make the others work hard; if she was a subordinate, she would blow her team leader off. With luck, he could learn from sparring with her in training, but his team would still have the advantage of being the first-ranked Vale team in their year.

Maybe by the third year, she would get her act together, but he saw no reason to doubt that if he and Dove were on the same team, theirs would be the best Team in their year at Beacon this year and would have the seeding advantage that bought.

His holiday had helped his confidence. Okay, Aunt Dahlia's money had meant that they would blow smoke up his ass if he was mediocre, but the people he had trained with in Mistral and Atlas had seemed to take him more seriously after the first few minutes of sparring. They had seemed to concentrate and treat him with respect. Their suggestions had been helpful, and he hoped it would mean he would have a flying start at Beacon. Certainly, he was more confident about dealing with Lydia after the training he had received.

One of the Mistralian trainers had even apologised for assuming that Cardin was just another rich boy playing at being a hero and was going to surround himself with paid middle-class fighters. He hoped the man had been telling the truth when he said that Cardin had a lot of potential and wished he was attending Haven.

He felt that he need not fear anyone other than Pyrrha and Arslan from Mistral, although he had caught mention of a good doubles team from West Mistral. Still, the Mistral Regionals was where the money was, and if they weren't invited to compete in that, then they must be middle-sized fish in a small pool.

He went to double-check that he had packed everything and to admire his new updated weapon, the Executioner. This was a gift from Aunt Agnes. She'd also promised to help him and his team with uniforms and upgrade his teammates' weapons after initiation.

He had just shut his bags (he had nearly forgotten his toothbrush) when he heard a knock on the door. He said, "Come in," expecting it to be Pater, prepared to give him advice of dubious use. He was uneasily aware that he did not respect his father as much as he had used to. The holiday hadn't helped- he suspected that was part of the reason why his Aunt Dahlia had funded it.

Instead, it was Fifi. "Sis, I wasn't expecting you to want a last hug before I go."

She laughed and hugged him, "Didn't expect you'd want one from me."

He ruffled her hair and then wondered if he'd gone too far and started to apologise. She smiled, "I don't mind because you worried about whether I did mind."

He did not understand sister logic, but he wasn't going to question it. Anyway, it was clear that she wanted to say something else but was nervous.

"Come on, Fifi. I won't be back for more than an occasional evening for fourteen weeks. If you annoy me, I'll have forgotten about it."

She nodded. "Don't be cross with me, but you will need to look out for Dove this term. He's been lost without you for the last few months, and my friends say he's been getting drunk at parties."

He nodded, "Thanks for the warning. I'll do my best to keep him focused." He doubted that that had been all she wanted to tell him, and if Fifi thought that she needed to speak to him, he suspected that he should hear her out.

"The word has gone around my friends that if you are a woman, you don't allow yourself to be in a room or car with Dove by himself."

Cardin paused. He didn't want to hear this, but he could not afford to dismiss what she said out of hand.

"I will keep an eye on him. I'll be a good influence."

She looked carefully at him. She had tested the waters and was now about to say what she really wanted to say. "Look, everyone says he behaves better when you are around, so you may not have seen it. It got to the stage this summer where people would invite Cousin Lydia to parties just in case he got out of hand."

There was no doubt that Lydia could deal with trouble – indeed, it was a common joke that she would make a good bouncer at Junior's Club Mistralian. Knowing who Fifi meant by people and the unlikelihood of them wanting to have anything to do with his cousin meant this was serious.

"And she came?"

"She said it was her duty."

Frack, there must have been a problem if she actually went to the parties held by his and Fifi's type of people. Okay, family duty meant he had to show that he appreciated the heads-up.

"I appreciate you telling me. I will bear what you said in mind and look out for trouble." He looked her in the eyes, smiled, and ruffled her hair again. By Winchester family standards, this was a sign of deep emotion.

Last year was bad for Dove, as Lydia, June, and Benjamin had shown that they all had his number. He had dropped to fifth place in the rankings after being second-best for the first two years, third-best in his third year and the first two terms of last year. He had not taken it well, especially as two were women and the other was a Faunus.

He told himself that once they were at Beacon and on the same team, Dove would knuckle down to qualifying for the Vytal Festival. Being the best team at Beacon would give him enough motivation.

Still, the fact that Dove had not mentioned anything about troubles this summer when they had spoken last night made him uneasy; in the past, Dove wouldn't have hidden anything from him. Downplayed it, maybe, but not pretended that it hadn't happened.

A few minutes later, the Pater came in and gave him the expected embarrassing advice. Worse, he alluded to the fact that if he did well in the Vytal Festival, it would impress Great Aunt Dahlia and Great Aunt Agnes, who had no direct descendants and were getting on in age. It seemed more important to Pater that Cardin impressed his wealthy relatives than for Cardin to fulfil his potential. Cardin could have taken being told it was a beneficial side effect, but Pater made it seem like the main aim.

Pater at least understood that neither he nor Mama should embarrass Cardin by hugging him in front of his new classmates, and so the goodbyes were said in the house before the chauffeur took Cardin to catch the bullhead to Beacon.

The flights would be from Pharos instead of the airport. Cardin wondered why and distracted himself on the drive by speculating. As they approached his old Alma Mater, he realised that one of his guesses might be correct. There were Atlesian Diplomatic Protection Service agents and soldiers everywhere. At one stage, the traffic ground to a halt as a convoy surrounding an armour-plated limousine drove through at high speed.

When Cardin had been in Atlas two weeks ago, he had been introduced to a languid clothes horse wearing a monocle of all things. It was later explained to him that Brede Campion was the spare heir to one of the four richest families in Atlas. The man had had his aura unlocked when someone had tried to kill him and his uncle in Vacuo, so under Atlesian law, he was required to undergo formal training until the age of 22.

Cardin couldn't understand the logic, but the rumours were that neither the man's family nor the Atlesian military wanted him to attend Atlas. While logically the man should be going to Haven, Brede had asked him about Beacon and Vale in a way that suggested he had done some research. If Brede was coming to Beacon, no doubt Atlas and Vale were scared stiff that the White Fang would target him. Ergo, the security.

Cardin smiled. He looked forward to impressing his old classmates with his deduction. If correct, he would be a genius. If wrong, at least he would have had a sensible suggestion.

He'd then thought about the fact that Team PLUM and Team CFVY were the designated second years who had "volunteered" to help with initiation this year.

Three of the eight had been in the year above him at Pharos. The problem was that Team CFVY reflected one of Beacom's oddities. Beacon had not only the highest number of students of all the academies (60 a year as opposed to 56 at Haven) but also the most students from other kingdoms and the highest number of Mustangs. Also, the highest percentage of Faunus students. Occasionally, Vacuo rivalled them, but Vacuo was Vacuo.

Team CFVY was the highest-ranked team in the year above them, but that must be because of the sombre Green Giant from Mistral and the blind kid from Vacuo.

It wasn't as though the Fashionista was a bad fighter, but she'd spent more time looking cool and being rude to the teachers than training at Pharos. It had been a close-run thing as to whether his old headmistress had hated Coco or Lydia more as being bad examples to the rest of the school. He'd been told that Rabbit Girl was a weapons geek from Signal who found it hard to make eye contact with anyone. Good at unarmed combat, but their success must be down to the out-of-kingdom fighters.

He reassured himself about the likely competition in his year. He had listened to the gossip on his holiday. Arslan was going to Haven with her friends, the four women from Vacuo were going to Shade, Pyrrha would be at Haven, and the band of talented musical misfits from Mantle were going to Atlas on full scholarships. He'd heard them play a set at the Dust Club in Mantle. The other Atlas candidates were meant to be competent but not outstanding.

It took ten minutes to get through security. He noted with approval that they had set it up so there were no delays immediately outside Pharos. At the second checkpoint, they handed him an orientation pack, a ticket for the flight and a receipt for his cases and weapon. He would be on the first shuttle to leave for Beacon from Pharos.

Dove and the human males from Pharos were already there waiting for him. His old girlfriend Julie was also there. Julie was a good sort and she'd been the one ex-girlfriend he'd stayed on good terms with. She was top ten at Pharos.

After ten minutes, he felt it was time to look at the other initiates. Lydia, June, and Benjamin had the rest of the Pharos crowd around them: the women (other than Julie), the Faunus, and the intellectuals. He frowned at this divide. June should have been with him and Dove, but Dove had messed up three years ago with her. Cousin Lydia was wearing trousers, a tweed jacket, and a waistcoat. He noted that the Faunus initiates from outside the kingdom had gravitated around her and Benjamin.

The loudest group surrounded the woman he knew was Yang. These must be the Signal students. He heard the words, "Oh. My. Gods. Yang, only you could get in detention for starting a fight in a nightclub before you even started at Beacon."

The blonde laughed and said, "Luckily, Dad was distracted by the fact that Ruby was taken to the police station for being at the scene of a crime."

A woman he knew belonged to Team PLUM and had studied at Signal said, "Ruby committing a crime? No way, Yang. You are yanking my chain."

"I never said she committed the crime. She tried to stop it by fighting six goons and Roman Torchwick. I owe her one for distracting Dad and Goodbitch."

Another chorus of "Oh. My. Gods." Cardin smiled. Yes, Yang was a party girl. She would be no problem this year.

There was a group of obvious Mustangs. They were older than the rest of the new students and were those who had never attended combat school or left at sixteen and joined the security services. Good fighters against Grimm and bandits without aura, but they never did well in the Vytal Festival in the first two years.

There was a group of three by themselves. The first was Brede, the man with a monocle he had met in Atlas. What shocked Cardin were his two companions. One man had what, until his last holiday, Cardin would have said was a ridiculous haircut, which marked him out as coming from Vacuo.

The third man was a few years older and, to judge from the ears, was a feline Faunus of some description. He was dressed in a surprisingly expensive-looking white linen suit and wore a tie. He looked from his bronzed complexion as though he also came from Vacuo. He then remembered that the honourable Brede Campion had had his aura unlocked in Vacuo.

Cardin frowned. The man with the haircut was no older than most students, but the feline Faunus was older. Frack, he must be a Mustang, but why was Brede talking to those two?

He explained to Dove and the others his theory that the security precautions were for Brede's benefit and who Brede was. As they all expressed agreement, he noticed a group of three people standing together. One was clearly from the far west of Mistral and had a dignified look about him. A second was a short and hyperactive girl who seemed to be speaking constantly. A third had dark blue hair and was dressed smartly in what Cardin knew from his summer holiday was the latest Mistral City fashions. He would need to find out more about these three. They were unknown to him, and as they hadn't been in the Mistral Regionals, they weren't an immediate concern.

As he watched them, two more people joined them. One was a tall blonde man; the other was a short young woman with a prominent jaw dressed in the clothes he associated with waitresses in expensive restaurants. She looked what Mama would describe as perky and the Pater as not knowing her place if a pleb or feisty if of their class.

Cardin would bear them in mind for later but decided now was the time to offer a welcome to Brede Campion. He also wanted to get a feel for the two Vacuoans. Fox Alastair last year had been a surprise package, but, traditionally, at least a couple of Vacuoan candidates a year did well at Beacon. Having been on safari there, it wasn't surprising as the wildlife was almost as dangerous as the Grimm.

He excused himself and, taking Dove with him, went to say hello to Brede. Cardin warned Dove not to take Brede at face value and that the man was probably only pretending to be a silly ass.

Brede looked at him through his monocle and said, "Ah, Cardin Winchester. I thought you had cottoned on to why I was gently interrogating you, but I'd promised the Adepts not to tell anyone I was going to Beacon this year."

Dove said, "The Adepts?"

The Lynx Faunus replied, "The Atlas Diplomatic Protection Service, dontchaknow. The lengths they have to go to avoid an acronym which spells out ASS or ASSES."

Cardin stared at the Faunus. The accent was, if anything, posher than Brede's.

Brede said, "Forgive me, Cardin. May I introduce Leslie Corkran and Russel Thrush of Vacuo?"

The two men shook Cardin's hand as Brede turned to Dove and shook his hand, "I presume you are Dove Bronzewing? I hope you and Cardin will be on the same team this year. No doubt your ears were burning when he sang your praises when he was in Atlas this summer."

There was a complicated shaking of hands. Cardin was grateful to Brede for guessing who Dove was and remembering that Cardin had spoken of him. He then realised that Brede must have known what Dove looked like in advance. Definitely not a silly ass. He would have the best weapons money could buy as well.

Brede continued, "I first met Leslie in Vacuo three years ago, and he always speaks like that. He is not extracting the Michael."

The Lynx Faunus smiled, "Today, my explanation is that when I heard that there were well-paid jobs available as a guide for the Atlas military presence in Vacuo, I watched all the old Great War films I could so my accent would fit in."

The Lynx Faunus turned to the man with the odd haircut. "I spent three years with the Mohawk tribe and know Russel from those days. I learnt an awful lot of sneakiness and desert lore from his family, and Russel is a worthy member of his tribe and family."

Cardin looked at Russel and smiled, "I spent part of my summer in Vacuo. I met a member of your tribe, Russet Sand."

Russel smiled, "Ah, you did the safari. He mentioned that he met someone who was going to Beacon just before I left Vacuo."

Brede laughed, "Don't even think of asking what he said about you. Even if it was complimentary, it is not the Vacuoan way to compliment anyone."

"Well, he did say that you weren't bad for someone who wasn't a member of the tribe," Russel said in a deadpan manner.

Cardin laughed. He would have gone for the same thing himself. He found it hard to trust people who automatically said everything was great or super or that everyone was marvellous.

Dove said, "So, are you the reason for the security, Brede?"

"Oh, no. Even though Adam Taurus is rumoured to be in Vale, Sienna Khan is unlikely to be after me. I'm only the spare, after all. Also, my family is not high on the White Fang's hit list. We aren't exactly philanthropists, but we aren't ruthless enough. Besides, only a small amount of our wealth is in mining and farming."

"So why the security?"

Brede looked at the Lynx Faunus, who nodded. "I'm not the only Atlas aristocrat coming to Beacon this year, old chap. The songbird will also be here."

Cardin swore to himself. "Weiss Schnee? I didn't show her aura was unlocked."

Dove said, "She's a bit small, isn't she?"

Brede laughed, "Compared with her older sister, maybe. Still, I wouldn't like to bet against having some of Winter's skill and determination. I served with Winter when she was posted in Vacuo."

Frack, frackety, frack. Winter Schnee had been a two-time Vytal festival champion, and her sister was an unknown quantity. Cardin told himself not to panic.

He still didn't know why Brede was talking to these two. "So, how do you know these two Brede?"

"Corky saved my life, dear boy."

Just then, the announcement was made that the first shuttle was ready for boarding. Cardin and Dove were both on it, so they said goodbye to Brede and his friends from Vacuo. Okay, the Faunus from Vacuo had worked for the Atlas military, and the fourth wealthiest family in Atlas owed him a debt. He also didn't seem like an easy subordinate.

He could have done without two Atlas aristocrats and an Atlas military-trained Faunus from Vacuo being added to the list of competitors. It wasn't as though he would be the self-evident choice for Team leader if he ended up on the same team with the aristocrats and as for having the Fanus as a subordinate.

Half of the Pharos students were on the first flight. He grimaced. The authorities had taken care to separate his crowd from Lydia's crowd. The flight also had students from the smallest combat school in Vale Torch. They were all together.

He saw that the perky student was standing by herself. He knew he needed to be extra careful about his reputation after last term and his father's recent venture into politics. He nudged Dove and approached the young woman.

"I don't think that we've met before. My name is Cardin, and this is my best friend, Dove. We were at Pharos in Vale."

"Pleased to meet you. Cardin, Dove. I'm Anne. I'm one of the wild cards, but I come from Vale as well."

Cardin caught something in the woman's accent. The woman had clearly had elocution lessons—she sounded like some of Aunt Dahlia's servants—clever men and women from poor families who tried to hide the fact.

He had a quick glance at Dove and shook his head. Hopefully, Dove would keep his mouth shut.

At Beacon, the headmaster was allowed to select four wild cards a year who had not come through the normal channels. Apparently, before the Great War, the majority of hunters and huntresses had not studied at the Academies, and Professor Ozpin had insisted on being allowed to select candidates on potential.

A surprisingly large percentage of these had been Vytal festival competitors. The young woman didn't look a threat in the same way as Yang and Lydia, but she was obviously fit and, although only five foot four or so, looked like she could take care of herself.

He decided to grasp the nettle. "Have you met the other Wild cards yet?"

"Two of them. Blair Nightshade from Mistral. She's a refugee from the Badlands."

"Oh." Well, that was unusual.

"Jaune Arc from Mistral. Apparently, he didn't go to combat school. He'd worked for the LGDF for two years, though."

That must be the tall blonde. He'd thought that the man had looked familiar.

"Any relation to Amber Arc and the twins?"

"Sorry, I have no idea. His mother runs the Ansel LGDF if that helps." Frack, he knew about the mother. That meant he must be the brother of a Vytal Festival finalist and two-time quarterfinalists.

Let's see what else he could find out from the perky girl. "I saw you speaking to three other students from Mistral. Who were they?"

The girl smiled, "Two of them are orphans from West Mistral, and apparently, they are not together/together. Personally, I think the lady doth protest too much. According to Sky Lark, they did win the Mistral Combat school doubles tournament for the last two years."

"Sky Lark?" He parked the quote he half recognised from the theatre.

"The posh one." She giggled, "He said he came to Beacon to escape being beaten up by Pyrrha. I hope, for his sake, that he was joking. The other two said he was a good fighter and seemed surprised he was in Beacon rather than Haven."

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos?"

She smiled at him, "You do know that Pyrrha Nikos is attending Beacon this year?"

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not. I promised not to say anything until now, but she and Weiss Schnee will be on the next shuttle."

Okay, unless he or a member of his team partnered with Pyrrha fracking Nikos, the best he could hope for was to be on the second-ranked team from Beacon. Well, not necessarily a disaster.

Cardin looked again at the short woman. He'd thought he'd spotted something in the accent which suggested that the woman was even more common than he thought. Still, no ears, tail, or hooves – maybe she just came from a poor human family and was enjoying winding up the rich bastards.

So his potential competitors this year included an ex-Atlesian army auxiliary, a filthy rich Atlas spare heir, the even richer sister of a two times Vytal festival winner, a Mistral schools doubles team champion, the brother of the only woman who had even remotely forced Winter Schnee to break a sweat and a wild card from the poorest part of Vale who was winding him up subtly enough that he couldn't call her out. Ok, the last two hadn't been to combat school, so he shouldn't assume they would be a problem.

Just then, the large screen on the shuttle started broadcasting. Glynda Goodwitch gave her welcome, and then the news started playing. Apparently, Roman Torchwick had perpetrated another robbery but had been forced to run away.

Anne said, "The rumour is that the fourth Wild Card is the person who forced him to flee."

He knew she was winding him up, even if she was telling the truth. Hold it; Yang had mentioned her sister had fought Roman Torchwick. He'd heard about Yang's younger sister as surprisingly dangerous for a shortass. If she had held her own with Roman Torchwick and six goons, she must be even better than the rumours. Still, surely Beacon wouldn't be admitting someone at the ago of 16.

He and Dove needed to have a word this evening about who they would target for their team. They had already agreed on the relics they would aim for if they weren't partnered up from the start. They didn't know what the relics would be, but there were only about six variants they had heard of being used.

He needed time to think and decided to be gracious and introduce Anne to other students. He called Julie over and introduced her to Anne. Actually, Julie was looking good and thinking about it, he could do a lot worse than rekindle their friendship. She might even make a good team member.

He thought that he might make an excuse to speak to that bloke Sky. He was another unknown, and maybe he was a possible teammate.